EPA Chief Pruitt Rejects Proposed Pesticide Ban (Washington Post)

Under Obama, EPA sought to ban chlorpyrifos

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt will not support a ban on the use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos by farmers, rejecting an EPA proposal to prohibit its agricultural use under the Obama administration.

Also known as Lorsban, chlorpyrifos was banned by the EPA more than a decade ago for indoor pest control, but it is still widely used by farmers to spray food crops. The Obama administration sought the agricultural ban after mounting scientific evidence suggested that prenatal exposure can affect fetal brain and nervous system development, the Washington Postand others reported.

"By reversing the previous administration's steps to ban one of the most widely used pesticides in the world, we are returning to using sound science in decision making - rather than predetermined results," Pruitt said in a statement released by EPA Wednesday.